--- description: Find out why Elizabeth Maruma Mrema is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Elizabeth Maruma Mrema: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5654950dcce333a0/698a3bebe6e84a8ce92affe9/Elizabeth-Maruma-Mrema-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Elizabeth Maruma Mrema by Ciara Nugent  Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, speaks at a joint press conference between Canada and China at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 17, 2022\. - Crucial UN talks aimed at sealing a "peace pact for nature" were entering their final stages Saturday, officially the last day the world's environment ministers are gathered in Montreal for the COP15 meeting. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP) (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images) Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, speaks at a joint press conference between Canada and China at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on December 17, 2022\. - Crucial UN talks aimed at sealing a "peace pact for nature" were entering their final stages Saturday, officially the last day the world's environment ministers are gathered in Montreal for the COP15 meeting. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP) (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)Andrej Ivanov—AFP/Getty Images In December, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema led the world’s countries to one of the decade’s biggest environmental wins—[an agreement](https://time.com/6242197/cop15-biodiversity-plan-adopted/ "undefined") to conserve or restore nature on 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030\. Then the U.N.’s executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Mrema shepherded the deal, overcoming vast differences among 195 countries’ negotiators. The agreement, which is not legally binding, will in theory help boost finance for developing countries, phase out subsidies that harm nature, and protect the rights of Indigenous communities. But Mrema’s work is far from over. Now the [U.N. Environment Programme](https://time.com/5738339/un-gap-report-climate/ "undefined")’s deputy executive director, she is co-leading a task force working on standardizing how businesses account for their impact on nature. Experts say the financial framework stands to accelerate efforts to protect the planet. _Nugent is a TIME staff writer_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/"},"headline":"Elizabeth Maruma Mrema","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:04.968Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100Pioneers2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5654950dcce333a0/698a3bebe6e84a8ce92affe9/Elizabeth-Maruma-Mrema-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"creator":"Ciara Nugent","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5654950dcce333a0/698a3bebe6e84a8ce92affe9/Elizabeth-Maruma-Mrema-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/","name":"Elizabeth Maruma Mrema"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269999/elizabeth-maruma-mrema/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```